Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. – Winston Churchill

A few months ago, my older brother emailed me with an interesting observation. “If you spend your whole life doing the right thing,” he wrote wearily, “you don’t get any credit for it. You can be responsible, save money, work your way through college, not be in debt, not have kids out of wedlock, keep up with your mortgage payments … no matter what you do, you don’t get any credit for it. But let someone mess up and they’re showered with all the things I had to work hard for my whole life.”

My brother isn’t the only one to note this trend of entitlements. From my column a few weeks ago called “We ain’t got no self-control,” a reader named “bdsunrise” said it beautifully: “All I can see is beggars, especially the young. Beggars and dead weight. The working mules are getting tired. Tired and old. I can easily see the young beggars kicking your door in and making you pay for years of doing the right thing.”

With the elections coming on, there’s been a lot of focus on the economic disparity in this nation. Our politicians are doing their best to foster class warfare by spotlighting the “haves” versus the “have nots.” What is seldom addressed is WHY the “haves” have, and why the “have nots” don’t have.

And no, I’m not talking about the newly unemployed either, because these people have a history of working hard. Most are looking hard for new jobs. Different demographic.

“What the devil does she [MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry] mean there are no safety nets for the poor? Lets see, food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, Head Start, free school lunches and breakfasts, and on and on. But pay your bills, work hard to buy a home, pay taxes and then lose money and see what you get.“

“Truth is, most poor people have serious challenges and problems – low IQ, no education, drugs, mental health problems, dysfunctional upbringings, illegitimate children, and a lot more I haven’t thought of yet. Some is not their fault, but most of it is poor personal choices.It is time for people to take more responsibility for their own lives.”

“Yes, there are truly ‘poor’ people, but there are also the ones sponging off the government entitlements that are steadily increasing as we speak.”

“Instead of complaining, take action. It’s easy to sit and complain and blame the government. Self-respect can only be obtained by hard work and honesty. Not sitting at home watching ‘Oprah’ or MSNBC telling you how entitled you are being poor. The rich didn’t become rich sitting on their hind quarters on welfare and food stamps.They went out and worked hard to become something. You have got to try and possibly fail before you can become something.”

“What really ticks me off is looking back at my original home town, knowing that there have been at least three generations of welfare queens who’ve never paid a dime into the system, and act like they have a right to the money they get.”

“I grew up so poor we didn’t even have indoor plumbing. Got a job as a waitress, saved money. Six months after graduating from high school, got another job as a waitress in a higher end restaurant. Worked hard and sacrificed. Started at the bottom and never took a single hand out. Today I’m a successful entrepreneur and own my own business. If I could improve my living standards, surely others can too. If there is a will there is a way! Successful people are often willing to do what others won’t.”

“Conservatives are the adults and do all of the heavy lifting while the socialist Democrats sit on welfare screaming for a handout.”

These are the voices of ordinary, hard-working, very frustrated people – the working mules. If the politicians want to foster class warfare, the very best way they can do it is to continue exactly what they’re doing: Forcibly redistribute wealth away from the mules toward those who don’t work, then blame those working mules for their selfishness when they balk.

What will happen when the money runs out? As a nation, we can’t continue like this. We can’t continue to prop up a massive number of people who contribute nothing to the economy. The number of people truly in need (the elderly, the disabled, etc.) are relatively few in comparison with the healthy able-bodied citizens who prefer to take entitlements than to better themselves through hard work and sacrifice.

One thing is for sure: The working mules are getting tired. Physically tired, mentally tired, spiritually tired. The mules are tired of carrying the load while squeaky wheels get off scot-free and live a life full of freebies provided by those mules.

I have a sinking feeling class warfare is indeed in our future, egged on by politicians who delight in playing one group off another while putting in place legislation to “punish” the rich while “helping” the poor, all the while lobbying for votes to secure the continuation of their high-riding political careers. And make no mistake, this is endemic in both Democrats and Republicans.

The only solution possible is for everyone – citizens and politicians alike – to shuck the massive bureaucratic nightmare that has become our government, and get back to the streamlined republic envisioned by our Founding Fathers, a republic where hard work isn’t punished and laziness isn’t rewarded.

But it won’t happen. Politicians are too corrupt and entrenched in their own power, perks and privileges. They delight in giving sweetheart back-room deals to massive corporations who then ship jobs overseas, thus burdening the middle class with higher and higher taxes. They revel in handing out more entitlements to squeaky wheels because that guarantees the squeaky wheels will vote for them.

And the squeaky wheels, who are equally entrenched in the entitlement mentality that will eventually ruin them, will continue to squeak that they’re entitled to more and more without the troublesome bother of working for it. Naturally they’ll vote for whoever guarantees the continuation of their livelihood.

Meanwhile the tired, hard-working, responsible mules will continue to plod forward, stoically bearing the increasing load until it breaks their backs and they drop in their tracks.

And that, in a nutshell, is what our once-proud nation has become. Have I missed anything?